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Is it any different to mail seeds to someone in another country? Customs, ag laws, etc.? Is it very expensive? I am asking because I have read posts of people "across the pond" as Carolyn would say, and would like to offer them seeds and I don't want to offer if I can't follow through

Is it any different to mail seeds to someone in another country? Customs, ag laws, etc.? Is it very expensive? I am asking because I have read posts of people "across the pond" as Carolyn would say, and would like to offer them seeds and I don't want to offer if I can't follow through

Goldie, there's some information about this in my seed offer, but to be more specific here's a few tips.

I don't know if you're planning to put up a seed offer here, or whatever, But it's best to ask non-US folks to e-mail you their requests b'c most of them do not have access to US stamps.

Tomato seed cannot be sent to either the Netherlands or to Australia, for different reasons.

The cost of sending to Canada is currently 75 cents and all other non-US places it's 98 cents for a first class one oz standard envelope. The cost goes up on April 1 st of this year as the USPS just announced. The current 44 cents within the US stays the same.

I can send 5-6 coin envelopes with the # of seeds you received, and most others, with the seeds padded as you received from me in my seed offer to non-US countries in a regular small or large business envelope for the apotage I mentioned above. If you chose to use a padded mailer or send more seeds to an individual it will be more money and it's best to let your postmaster weigh and tell you what the cost is until you become more familiar with postage rates for letter sized enveloped vs different sized padded mailers.

As I live in Mexico, I can tell you I have had problems going both ways, either me sending to US or me receiving in Mexico. I have had most seeds I have ordered "confiscated" by Mexican Customs. I have sent seeds to two different friends and neither received them so I am guessing US customs got them. I now order seeds and have them sent to my Son who puts them in a package with something else and ships them to me and then I had no problem. I also had two different shipments to Italy in 2010 that never got there. On the other hand, I have ordered and shipped seeds from many different countries when I was living in Wyoming and most got to me or where they were going.

Postage varies but with the dollar so down against the Euro, you can be expected to pay more postage for seeds being sent to any of the European Union Countries. I would suggest packing up seeds and weighing them and then looking up the cost to the particular country you are sending to so you at least have a rough idea of what postage will cost.

The only country I have heard of others having a problem with is Australia who has very strict regulations. There are Australian members on this forum so they could probably comment on this.

I would not let any of the above scare me off from sending/ordering seeds outside the US. 99% of the time you will have no problem.

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"If I'm not getting dirty, I'm not having a good time."

Thank you Carolyn, I'm not planning a seed offer, just wanted to "pay it forward" when the chance comes up. Thanks for being so patient with us newbies asking questions that perhaps we should already know.

Many years ago they introduced rabbits and foxes to the land and it has been a disaster.
It took something like 5 attempts to get the rabbet established and they did it with a Spanish rabbit. Now it is one of the worst ecologicle desasters in the history of the country.
Many plants have taken over that were brought there the fox is killing off the native critters.
The Cane toad you all know about.

Many people dont know this but Austraila for the most part is unusable for agriculture.
It has some of the oldest soil on the planet and it was wore out long before man showed up.
It is a long story and further reading is recommended on the subject.

I always cringe when I hear about someone wanting to get a plant started in a country that it is not native to.
Many weeds in the US were brought here from some place else.
when I was a kid you only saw China berry trees in a yard now where I live they are every where. In another 30 years or less it will get worse.
The governments have for good reason banned many seeds from coming into their countries.
It is too bad they have to put a blanket ban on all seeds but that is what they do.

Worth

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Dont feed the homeless and they will go back to their natural habitat.

I sent seeds to Germany and they did not arrive. I sent another envelope and the seeds did arrive but I also agree with Worth and the problems in Australia is the same worldwide.

In Michigan we have a buckthorn problem. A non native plant, and its everywhere killing everything in its path including our native trees (in the seedling stage). Buckthorn is the first plant to leaf out in the spring and the LAST plant to loose its leaves in the fall. A toxic million berries per plant breeding machine. Since this plant is the first to leaf out in the spring it is killing all the native wildflowers in the forest, its a mess.

We now have a small group of people who are friends of the rough river and each spring we hand dig the buckthorn just to save the wirdflowers. Its a loosing battle.

I have had no problems with trades from New Zealand, Japan, Slovenia, Germany, Belarus, Canada and Hungary. Oddly enough, the Canadian exchanges take at least twice as and usually 3 times as long to get there or get here than the rest of the countries I mentioned. If it is only 3 or 4 packets, I use a greeting card.

The USA has tighter regulations for importing seeds than most countries. The only way for an individual to legally import any seeds into the USA is to apply for an import permit via the Small Lots of Seed Program at APHIS. The seeds are then sent via an inspection station where they are checked before being forwarded on.

Any seeds sent to the USA without a permit risk being confiscated by customs. The likelihood of then actually being seized is low, but it is a possibility all the same, and whenever I send seeds to the USA I am always worried they will not arrive (but so far they always have done).

Worth, Australia put a ban on seed importation b'c of the concern about the Potato Spindle Virus, which infects tomatoes as well. Until that happened a few years ago I had no problems getting seeds to Australia, as Patrina can tell you, but I'm speaking of just hobby amounts and sent by individuals. I don't know the current restrictions on importation of tomato seeds to A in bulk amounts but would imagine that a phytosanitary certificate would be required which is costly. Same as it is in the US for importing large bulk amounts of tomato seed.

I've done these free seed offers online since about 1990 or so, first at AOL, then GW and now here since Tville opened, and I've sent seeds all over the world and luckily for me they all arrived.

The only complaint I have is the Canadian mail system. I sent Tania her seeds she requested from my seed offer and then shortly after that some other seeds she wanted to work with and there was a 9 day difference in delivery. And Neil G in Canada can also attest to such delays. And when Craig L and I were publishing OTV it was a mess getting that newsletter to folks in Canada.

yes, as had been pointed out above, the only legal way to get hobby amounts of seeds into the US is to pay for a certificate for same, and that's also discussed and links given in the front of every SSE YEarbook, but speaking personally, I don't know of one person who has done that.

I have had only one no show of all the seeds that I have sent to the states. I use normal envelopes and cushion them on both sides with very thin foam. I had one that German Customs intercepted and sent me a letter as to the contents. The other just didn't make it.
Mid November through December is the best time to send seeds internationally as it's the holiday season and the postal systems are glutted with mail. Ami

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Life's journey is not to arrive at the grave safely in a well preserved body, but rather to skid in sideways,
totally worn out, shouting ‘...Holy Crap .....What a ride!'